The tremors in the floating realm had not yet subsided. On a distant island, space suddenly ripped open like a curtain being torn apart, revealing a massive rift. Within that rift was not darkness, but a deep realm surging with a tapestry of purple-gold and starlight, from which a soft yet oppressive light poured forth.
Like a gaze from some ancient source, a figure slowly emerged from the crack. Her appearance was not accompanied by a violent aura, yet it altered the rhythm of the entire space. It was as if all cause and effect, and all laws, slowed and became solemn the moment she descended. Her figure was slender and dignified, her skin as warm and lustrous as jade, radiating a faint golden glow, and her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
Faint purple starlight flickered in her hair, her robes billowing yet unmoved by the wind, as if completely detached from the flow of the world. She wore a long dress of gold and purple, the hem flowing like clouds, with dragon patterns and ancient runes faintly visible between the layers. A warm yet blazing sphere of light condensed on her chest, like a compressed core of primordial energy.
Floating silently in her palm, countless laws seemed to intertwine and decay within it. Behind her, a colossal dragon shadow, too vast to be fully observed, coiled in the void. The dragon shadow was composed entirely of a radiance interwoven with purple-gold and deep blue light.
Its scales shimmered like stars, its head was held high, and its eyes burned like crimson flames. With an aura of dominance over all living beings, as its body swirled, the clouds above the entire island were compressed into vortexes and churned. The space around it rippled constantly, as if even "existence itself" was giving way to it.
Hua Yuening in the center of the island, her long hair slightly lifted by the impact of the energy. Her gaze was cold and solemn. Her cultivation at the True Annihilation Realm · Peak circulated slowly within her body. It did not erupt, but it caused fine annihilation patterns to appear in the surrounding space, and the ground beneath her feet faintly transformed into a state of half-illusion and half-solidity.
Reality and illusion constantly alternated around her. She slowly raised her head to meet the gaze of the descending being. Her eyes held no fear, only Ultimate vigilance and composure. She could clearly sense—
That was not an ordinary Primordial Beast, nor was it simply an incarnation of laws. It was an existence closer to "manifestation of the origin," and its aura was on the same level as hers, even faintly carrying an ancient pressure.
The creature also stopped at that moment, hovering in mid-air, its gaze looking down at Hua Yuening. The primordial light sphere in its palm trembled slightly, causing fine ripples to spread through the space. It did not speak, yet an invisible will descended directly upon this island.
The air grew heavy, the light slowed, and even sound seemed to be suppressed to a very low level, unable to spread. The dragon's shadow moved slowly behind it, leaving a long trail of light as its tail swept across the void. The trail of light lingered for a long time, as if it had etched an indelible mark of existence between heaven and earth.
Hua Yuening slowly took a step forward, and the space beneath her feet instantly became "indiscernible." Her figure seemed to both exist and Does Not Exist at that moment. True Annihilation Power quietly gathered within her body, and her voice was deep and clear, "Come, let me see what you really are."
The creature's gaze narrowed slightly, and the ball of light in its palm suddenly blazed with intense light. The space around the entire island distorted completely at that moment. Two auras, both at the pinnacle of the True Annihilation Realm · Peak, collided silently in mid-air, without exploding.
This caused a brief pause in the heavens and earth, as if the entire realm was waiting for this true duel to unfold.
The dragon maiden stood atop the rift in the sky, crimson flames slowly igniting in her eyes. She didn't utter a sound, but a transformation had already begun; Purple-Gold Dragon shadow abruptly contracted behind her, then seemed to merge into her body.
Ancient seal script slowly emerged from her body, constantly disintegrating and reassembling, as if the rules of the entire world were being erased and rewritten line by line. The next instant—her supernatural power was activated.
"The Return to the Ruins Dragon Roar." No sound came out, yet it resounded directly within all "beings."
The sound was far beyond the reach of the ears, penetrating deep into the Fate Soul and bringing a violent tremor. It was as if some ancient being had spoken in a low voice before memories were even formed, a dragon's roar piercing through time, cause and effect, and existence itself, resounding deep within Hua Yuening.
In an instant, cracks appeared in the space of the entire island.
The air ceased to move, the light began to distort, and the ground blurred in view, as if all "perceived" things were losing their basis for existence. The outlines of the rocks began to loosen, and the radiance of the runes faded.
Even Hua Yuening's own aura experienced a brief "blank," as if she had been momentarily stripped from the world's records.
The ground beneath her feet rippled as the dragon's roar touched it, as if water had been shattered. The stone structure began to disintegrate into countless tiny fragments of light. These fragments did not fall but vanished in mid-air. Even the process of "vanishing" could not be fully described, leaving only an incomplete void.
Even more bizarrely, within those shattered fragments of space, faint reflections of scenes that "never happened" could be seen—
Hua Yuening never embarked on the path of cultivation. Hua Yuening was never born into the Hua Lineage. Hua Yuening's existence was completely erased.
That wasn't an illusion, but a possibility being "written" into existence. The dragon girl's gaze was coldly fixed on her, and the primordial light sphere in her palm trembled slightly. With each tremor, the "existence judgment" collapsed further.
However, Hua Yuening did not retreat.
She stood still, her long hair moving slightly, but the coldness in her eyes deepened. She did not rush to make a move, but slowly closed her eyes.
"You are erasing 'the way I am recognized by the world'."
Her voice was deep and calm, yet it carried an extremely clear insight.
"But you forgot... the Realm of True Annihilation never depends on being 'recognized' for its existence."
The next instant, she opened her eyes, and in that instant, the aura around her suddenly changed.
She is no longer a stable entity; she is constantly in a state of collapse and rebirth.
She raised her hand in the air, neither forming hand seals nor activating any complex spells, but simply making a light sweep across the void—
This stroke carries no intention of attack; it is purely a resolute denial of all existence.
"Since you wield cognition as a blade... then I will sever the very root of your cognition."
The space her fingertips traced didn't explode or tremble; instead, it simply "lost its meaning." That area no longer belonged to "existence," nor to "nothingness," and even the concept of "non-existence" couldn't be applied.
It was a pure, indistinguishable realm. All the runes triggered by the dragon's roar stopped functioning the moment they came into contact with that area, and then crumbled into undefinable fragments inch by inch.
The power of the dragon's roar was blocked for the first time. Hua Yuening took a step forward.
Her image began to overlap at that moment. One of her stood still.
One version of her seems to have never existed, while another is being erased.
Yet at the same time, she did not resist being "forgotten," but instead actively allowed herself to enter a state of "indiscernibility," making it impossible for the dragon's roar to pinpoint her existence.
The dragon's roar shook the space once more, causing it to shatter further, but this time, the shattering did not extend to her.
She stood there, seemingly an undefined blank space, and the dragon girl's gaze finally shifted slightly.
The ball of light in her palm paused slightly, the dragon's roar stopped spreading, and the entire island returned to silence.
The shattered space slowly recovered, the unfinished "erasure" remained halfway through, and the reflections that "never happened" gradually faded away, as if everything that had just happened had never truly occurred.
Hua Yuening withdrew her hand and did not continue her attack, nor did the Dragon Girl make another move.
The tension between the two remained locked in a tense standoff in the air, neither erupting nor dissipating.
They looked at each other, without anger or underestimation, only a pure scrutiny.
The Dragon Maiden hovered in the void, the crimson flames in her eyes suddenly subsiding. The primordial light sphere in her palm slowly sank, and as she slightly spread her arms, the dragon shadow coiled in the sky behind her abruptly contracted, then coalesced into a deep, shadowy silhouette behind her.
Immediately afterwards, space silently cracked open behind her, and a frameless mirror slowly appeared. The mirror did not reflect light, but was like a bottomless abyss. Light that fell into it was completely swallowed up. The shadows of everyone on the island were stretched and distorted at this moment, and then absorbed by the mirror little by little. The air became damp and cold, and even breathing had a suffocating feeling of sinking to the bottom of the water.
The dragon maiden spoke softly, her voice barely uttered, yet it reverberated deep within the space—"Mirror Abyss Reflection." At that moment, ripples suddenly spread across the mirror's surface.
Hua Yuening's figure was reflected in the image, but the reflection was not her likeness.
The image in the mirror slowly took shape, its outline clear, yet lacking any trace of "existence." It wasn't her reflection, but a blank human silhouette, as if she had never been born, a "place incomplete" left by heaven and earth.
The image stood there, devoid of breath or Fate Soul; even "nothingness" couldn't fully describe it. It was merely an "empty space" stripped bare of everything.
Ripples began to spread outwards from the mirror, one circle after another. The blank reflection emerged from the mirror.
As it took its first step, the space beneath Hua Yuening's feet suddenly collapsed. Her aura was drawn by an invisible force, and fine cracks appeared deep within her Fate Soul. Her figure became slightly blurred in reality, and an overlapping shadow line appeared between her and the blank reflection.
The second step is to land.
Her clothes began to fade, and the edges of her clothes became faintly transparent. The rock layers and air on the island contracted towards her at the same time, as if making room for that "empty space".
In the third step, the blank reflection had already overlapped with her by half.
Her shadow vanished; she stood there, as if being gradually forgotten by the world.
The Dragon Girl's gaze was indifferent. She pressed her palm lightly, and the Mirror of No Origin suddenly trembled. Countless fine points of light seeped out from the cracks in the mirror's surface. Each point of light was flashing with different fragments of the past. Those fragments floated in the air, forming segments of erased time, slowly rotating around Hua Yuening.
Hua Yuening did not retreat; she stood still.
The power of being "erased" continued to spread through her, her figure blurring in reality, but her eyes became clearer and clearer. She slowly raised her hand and placed her palm on her chest.
The next instant—her Fate Soul suddenly exploded.
It wasn't an outward collapse, but an inward one; her entire being began to disintegrate at that moment.
Flesh and blood, aura, and traces of laws—layer upon layer—contracted inward.
She did not resist the illusory image.
She is catering to it; she is actively pushing her "existence" deeper.
The space beneath her feet collapsed with a deafening roar, and a grayish-white domain spread out from her body.
That realm has no boundaries and no stable form.
It's like a collapsing vacuum, dragging everything that can be reflected into it.
The blank reflection stopped abruptly the moment it stepped into the area.
Its outline began to become unstable; it originally represented a state of "never existing".
But now they've been dragged into a region where even the notion of "never having existed" is impossible.
Its edges began to break, and specks of light scattered from its body.
Those fragments that were meant to erase Hua Yuening were now being torn apart instead.
Hua Yuening pressed her hands forward, and the entire domain suddenly contracted.
The blank reflection was forcibly pressed under her palm, boom—
There was no explosion, but there was a moment of absolute stillness before the mirror shattered completely.
Countless points of light exploded in the air, like a collapsing galaxy, each point of light burning, burning away a forgotten past.
The dragon girl staggered back half a step from the impact, a thin tear appearing on the hem of her dress.
A drop of blood slowly slid down her collarbone, and the moment it fell into the void, it evaporated into a wisp of purple-gold mist.
She stopped, ceasing her attack, and for the first time, her gaze changed.
She no longer looked down, but stared intently, a hint of sharpness emerging from her indifference. She raised her hand and gently brushed over the wound, the bloodstains on her fingertips dissipating.
The dragon's shadow slowly unfolded behind her, and her aura coalesced once more. This time, it was no longer a test.
She looked at Hua Yuening and truly began to regard her as an opponent.